State grant funding 2 of 4 classes this year
The Columbia school board on Tuesday approved accepting a $140,000 grant to begin its pre-K program at Columbia Primary School this year.
The new program will serve 70 4-year-olds in four classes.
Superintendent Jason Harris said the Mississippi Department of Education grant became official July 19, and he’s very excited about it.
“The impact of pre-K is actually almost more important than your senior year in high school. When you look at today and how we’re working within a global society, our students aren’t just competing for jobs with people in Marion County, Hattiesburg or even the United States, they’re competing globally,” he said. “The establishment of a pre-K starts that foundation that builds better students. It’s like a house: You can’t have a great home without a great foundation. Pre-K starts that foundation. All the research says the earlier you can start teaching in those formative years better prepares a child’s life. We’re just so happy to be able to start that and be able to offer that to the citizens and students of Columbia.”
Harris added that only five districts in the state were awarded the Blended Pre-K Grant, and Columbia is the only one that will have two classes funded by the grant.
There will be four total classes, two with a class size of 20 students and two with 15 students.
“It speaks volumes when only five districts were awarded that grant, and $140,000 will go a long way to the establishment of two of our four classes,” Harris said. “One of the components of that is providing services for our special needs students, so that also provides them with a better foundation for an even brighter future.”
In other business, new Columbia High School Principal Braxton Stowe also addressed the board to present graduation statistics and ideas on how to improve them.
Stowe mentioned making a concerted effort to reach current and former students at risk of not receiving a diploma, exposing students to more collegiate opportunities available and increasing the total amount of scholarship money awarded to students in the district.
The board also approved the employment recommendations of Amber Champagne, teacher at CPS; Ginger Hayward, fifth-grade teacher at Columbia Elementary School; Lindsey Lucas, fourth-grade teacher at CES; Amanda Gibson, seventh-grade English teacher at Jefferson Middle School; Michael (Scott) Nabors, physical education teacher at JMS, middle school football assistant, assistant baseball, middle school baseball and ninth-grade baseball coach; Alexandria Byrd, teacher at CPS; James (Derek) Bracey, maintenance worker; Monica Meidl, bus driver; Jay Hughes, Ed Options Coordinator at CHS; Cornelius Patton, bus driver and Angela Hammond, clerical assistant at JMS.
Limited Service Expert Substitute Teachers Ashley Allen, CHS math; Derek McCoy, CHS Second Chance Center and Rose Lau, JMS art, were also approved by the board.
